Tea Time with my Dead Brother
by Imaged
Summary: At least she doesn't try to hold her beliefs against me- I mean us. I almost forgot you’ve joined me now; it’s been so long since we’ve been together, Yuui. Of course, I can't really say you've joined me, either. You're a ghost among the dead...
1. Chapter 1

Someone was holding on to him; someone significantly smaller than him and strangely cold.

"…ui! Yuui! Elda, he's waking up!"

Fai's mind starts to clear up once a second cold person quickly came over and touched his arm. He realizes that no one out of his traveling group has ever called him _Yuui_- he hopes it'll stay that way, even if they manage to find out about his past-, and that he knows the voice all too well.

He opened his eyes, and even though his vision was blurry, he immediately recognizes the blonde haired child clutching onto him. "Yuui! Y-you're awake!" the child spoke, a flash of relief crossing their small blue eyes.

Once Fai came completely to his senses, one thought came directly to his mind; dead brothers were _definitely_ not supposed to greet you when you wake up.

--

--

--

"So I'm dead, but not really?" Yuui- he can't exactly call himself Fai anymore when the real owner of the name was sitting next to him- asked from his spot in the middle of the bed, looking up through his hand at the ceiling. He moves it closer and further, testing to see how far his hand must be before it blends in completely, with nothing left but a trace of shadow and the outline of his nails.

Had he always been this pale, he wonders, or does transparency make someone seem whiter?

"Something like that." Fai said, his voice not even a day over the age he had when he died long ago. "Elda tried to explain it to me, but I'm not sure she understands why you're only half visible either."

The older twin lets his hand fall onto the bed at his side, a delicate sad look crossing his face. "I wonder why I'm here…"

"I wouldn't say that yet. You're barely even here at all!" the child giggles. "A ghost among the dead."

--

--

--

"What has been bothering you?"

Yuui's not sure he'll ever get used to looking down at someone who looks exactly like him, so he settles for sitting down in the grass. "I'm just curious about the people I've met." He looks forward, at the various people he does and doesn't know walk by.

"Like Elda?"

Yuui nods.

"You know she's our mother, right?"

Another nod.

"She still thinks we're twins of misfortune, though." Yuui can't help but look over at Fai at that comment, to see if he shows any kind of regret toward being born; he doesn't. "At least she's still helps me when I need her, and she doesn't try to hold her beliefs against me- I mean us." Fai looks back at his twin, who is still scrutinizing him. "I almost forgot you've joined me now; it's been so long since we've been together."

Yuui looks away again, a tad bit of guilt biting at his conscious. "It has. I just hope our separation this time isn't as violent."

--

--

--

"…and even though the seasons change here, the temperature never seems to; even when it's snowing, it's warm enough to not wear a sweatshirt. It's a bit odd, but even if winter doesn't feel icy anymore, it's still pretty." The teenager- Yuui isn't sure how old she is, just that she's older than Fai and younger than Sakura was when he last saw her- that he has been introduced to as Tomoyo- one that has never heard of Kurogane before- continues talking.

Fai smiles, actually smiles instead of the half-hearted kind that Yuui is known for. "It is, but I don't like the cold much, anyway."

Tomoyo agreed, and they both looked up at the sky. "Do you think she'd be here yet? I was told by the elders that she was coming for a visit today, but I'm not sure when."

Fai stood. "Let's go check!" He said brightly, helping the black haired girl up before turning to Yuui, who kindly declined the help and stood up on his own.

"Who are you two talking about?" Yuui had to ask. He was never good at keeping his curiosity in check.

"I'll show you where she would normally be when she comes, and you'll see!" Fai said, taking one of Yuui's hands in one of his cold own and starting to lead the way.

"Let's go visit-" She drifted off as she grabbed Yuui's other hand. Glancing up at him, her eyes big with curiosity, she simply stated. "You're still warm..."

--

--

--

"Tomoyo, Fai, how nice it is to see you both." A voice much older than Tomoyo's and Fai's calls out as soon as she turns and sees them. She looks up at Yuui and pauses. "Yuui, will you be my drinking partner? Mokona will be joining us, as well!" She looks at him with a look in her eyes that freely admits that she has to talk to him.

Yuui simply accepts. "Certainly, Yuuko-san."

How can he decline when he needs to talk to her just as badly?


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N**: I'm sorry if you got a message saying this updated twice. I didn't realize this had an error on it still before I put it up, and then I had to take it down so I could fix it. Oh, and I'm sorry it's so short, but I'm going on vacation soon and I didn't want to leave people kind of hanging?

* * *

"They're worried about you, Yuui."

He needs to distract himself from feeling guilt that he's worrying someone, so he takes a swig of his bottle of sake and looks over into the field, where he sees little Tomoyo and Fai playing with the two children that came with Yuuko. "How are they doing?"

The dimensional witch takes a sip out of her own bottle, not even bothering to answer, but her expression is enough to put even a tiny bit of relief into Yuui's mind. She, instead of directly giving an answer, strikes up a deal. "If you give me the bracelet you are wearing, I'll have Mokona let you speak to them."

Startled, Yuui looks at his wrist to see that, indeed, he is wearing a bracelet, even though he doesn't seem to remember getting it or putting it on. He looks closer, and notices that some of the multicolored beads have letters on them, and in a misshapen manner they spell out '**b**_r_o_t_**h**e_r_'.

He doesn't accept the offer.

--

--

--

"So what's wrong with Yuui-kun, Yuuko-san?" Tomoyo asks, once she and Fai have joined them at the table, and she takes a sip of her sparkling apple juice (which was Fai's idea, once Yuuko and Yuui switched to wine). "Is he not dead?"

"He's not, but he's close to it." Yuuko looks away, an apathetic look on her face.

Fai visibly brightens, while Yuui's attitude almost slumps. The older of the two speak up. "W-what happened?"

No answer comes, but both Yuui and Yuuko know that the if one had been said, it would have been simply another deal.

--

--

--

"Fai, when did I get this bracelet?" Yuui plays with the object in question, slipping it over his hand and looking at its misaligned letters. He continues walking- he's not sure to where, and he's okay with that-, only occasionally looking up to make sure he hasn't walked into anything.

A child giggles throughout the entire hallway as he runs forward and goes around a corner "I gave it to you when Elda and I first found you unconscious!"

"How did you know I was going to come?"

Fai peeks around the corner, looking at Yuui with a grin. "I didn't! I just knew you had to come eventually! Everybody comes eventually…"


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** I guess I had time to update one last chapter before I go! Here you are, everyone! (oh, and I don't own Tsubasa). If you think you know what is going to happen next, then take a guess and you'll get cookies if you can get it!

* * *

Yuui wakes up the next day with something over his eyes- or eye, rather. He reaches up and touches the foreign cloth covering his left eye, kneading it with his fingers until he's completely sure that it's simply nothing but a piece of cloth covering his eye.

He attempts to take it off, to see why something is covering his eye, but he can't. He ends up leaving it there, because his eye is sore, anyway.

--

--

--

Fai seems worried about his older twin, but hasn't said much since Yuui has woken up. He's starting to leave his older brother alone, not clinging to his side nearly as much as he did when they were first reunited.

Tomoyo smiles a lot more than she did, but she leaves him alone as well. The ex-magician can't help but think she looks like she's constantly about to break out in tears, but she refuses to state why- when he can even find her. She and the younger blonde continue to disappear, leaving Yuui more and more alone.

Yuui even goes to Yuuko for company, hoping that she won't just brush him off as well. She doesn't, but she's not much more help than the others. "You're just catching up to the current events" is all she says for the whole conversation, and the blonde can't help but find that he's running out of things to busy himself with while the silence goes on.

--

--

--

He now finds himself in the company of a girl whose age he cannot place. All he knows is that her name is Kobato, and she wants to 'heal' his heart.

Yuui's not sure what she means by that, or even how she arrived in this place in the first place if she's not dead, but he's glad that the silence that seems to follow him around that day isn't awkward.

It's just silence, and Yuui's almost okay with that.

--

--

--

After a long while, the magician grows bored of being alone. He is forced to wonder if this is how his younger twin had felt before he had shown up, for all those years.

He turns around to go find Fai, to apologize- again- for leaving him alone for this long, but his search is ended abruptly when Yuui comes face to face with the young but aged face of his brother, with hair that reaches past his shoulders and barely reaches his ankles.

The child- this isn't Fai, is it?- opens his mouth. "You'll be joining us soon, Yuui" he smiles far too big at saying something so morbid, but the older blonde isn't really sure, in that moment, if anything was said at all, or if he's just imagining this whole thing.

Yuui takes a step back, an idea of running away and a thought of how he probably deserved this, both entering his mind.

--

--

--

After what he assumes is far enough, he can't bring himself to run anymore. His eye is hurting for reasons he can't figure out, and the pain is starting to get to his head.

As he collapses, he sees Tomoyo as she walks over. She simply states "I'm sorry", and he's already gone.

Even so, Tomoyo isn't sure if she should feel responsible for being a dream seer at all.


	4. Chapter 4

**THIS CHAPTER HAS SPOILERS UP TO CHAPTER 125/126.**

* * *

Yuui starts to regain conscious. He's not sure where he is, or really, how he got there, but he feels an arm around him, carrying him to somewhere and a sharp, _sharp_ pain in his left eye- or really, where his left eye should be. He weakly reaches up to grab at it, but that _stupid_ cloth gets in the way- no, it's a different cloth, he can tell, it's not the same annoying thing that's been there, it feels new, but it's already wet with _something_ and-

Yuui cannot finish the thought as he looses his hold on reality.

--

--

--

He wakes up again in someone's arms, but he can't bring himself to care about who it is. He's worried about why someone is breathing so heavily in the background, why someone sounds like they are so close to death, but he is again interrupted in thinking when he suddenly remembers, and he knows why he's in Kurogane's arms, why he feels that drop of _something_ roll past his cheek when he knows he's not crying, why- when he finally builds enough strength to open the eye he can, while the other continues to still feel like someone replaced his eye with shards of glass- Sakura looks so worried from the far distance of the room.

He almost wishes he can't. He'd rather go back to being unknowing so he can smile and assure everyone it's going to be okay- because it's not quite lying if he's not quite fully convinced of the contrary- but he knows that it's far too late for that, and now should just be the time when he accepts his death peacefully, and thanks them all for everything they've done. He wants to apologize for the trouble, but even if he never gets the chance again to say it, he knows he can't even do it now.

--

--

--

Yuui's mind has been drifting for a while now, thinking about various things- how Tomoyo, Elda, and that nice girl could be doing, if Fai could ever forgive him for all he's done, how Sakura will act if he doesn't make it through this- when his senses finally come to and he starts hearing voices.

He hears things he doesn't want to. Someone- _Kurogane_, oh why is it Kurogane- is making a wish-_ about him_, but why is he doing it, why would someone want to save him.

"S-stop.." He stutters out between his harsh gasps.

"Shut up!" Kurogane yells at him, and Fai's harsh breathes stop for a moment before continuing once again. "If you want to die this much, I'll kill you. Until then, live."

An idea hits Yuui- he's had this idea all along, he knows, but he can finally take it into action-, and his face sets into a smile. He'll live, but it will only be in apology and respect to Fai.

Maybe Fai will forgive him if he finds out Yuui lived for him.

Maybe.

--

--

--

Something drips against his lips. It's think, it's unnatural, it reeks of inhumanity, and yet it tastes delicious and he can't seem to make his body reject it as it slides down his throat.

After that, Fai can never remember quite what happened. He just remembers pain.

--

--

--

Yuui looks up, he's still in agonizing pain- _oh god, what is happening_- and he finds himself back in his room with Fai and Tomoyo. She looks like she's almost disgusted in him; like she couldn't have found anybody in the world she's more disappointed in. Fai stares at his older twin, just staring.

He doesn't need to say anything, he just glares a bit more, and another zap of pain goes through Yuui's body, and he's zoning out, he's combining fantasy with reality and he's just not quite sure which one is which.

Yuui looks away from his brother. He understands; he's not forgiven.

--

--

--

He wobbles a little bit, all his strength gone. His vision is blurry, yet unnaturally sharp- focusing on things that should be too far away for him to get a good look at, with this tiny amount of energy-, his senses dulled, yet unnaturally keen- he can sense Kurogane's presence with complete accuracy-, and his fingers are numb, yet unnaturally sensitive- he can feel how long he could make his claws go, he could easily just hold up one nail and stick it through Kurogane as if-

He doesn't want to think like that.

Yuui looks up from the mattress, pausing for a second when he looks at the far corner of the room- is that Tomoyo, can I still apologize to her- before he looks up at Kurogane. He stares for a second, analyzing everything about the ninja that he can with his new sight- is he disappointed as well, has Tomoyo told him about everything?

He faints, tired and answerless.

--

--

--

Yuui awakens back in his and his brother's room again. Fai is no where to be found, but Tomoyo is in almost tears next to him.

"Y-you were supposed to join us f-for good. W-why did you let that man take you away from us? I w-won't forgive you…"

He falls back asleep again; he's not even sure if he woke up in the first place.

--

--

--

Yuui stares at the ceiling of the building he is wasting away in, just waiting for the ninja to check up on him. He knows the man is coming- he can sense the man's blood from who knows how far away-, and sits up as he walks through the door.

"Good Morning, Kurogane." He smiles.

And as a new time begins, Yuui cannot help but wonder if by being cold to the person that made Tomoyo cry, he will be forgiven for something he could not control.

Or, really, if he can be forgiven at all.

* * *

**A/N**: Ugh. I am DONE with this. Sorry this took so long, but I could NOT get this the way I wanted it, and then I just got completely sick of it.

Reviews are nice .


End file.
